MURDERERS, drug dealers and armed robbers are some of almost 40 convicts on the run from Britain’s most hapless open prison - some for up to TEN YEARS.

A montage of images of some of those who have absconded from HM Prison Ford

The number of wanted men on the run from HM Prison Ford, named for the first time today, could be even higher as the figures do not include fugitives outside the ten year recorded period.

Brutal killer Robert Donovan, 58, has not been seen since June 2010 despite being jailed indefinitely for stabbing a West London theatre manager in 1974.

Derek Passmore, 50, has been at large for 20 months after being jailed for beating a disabled man to death in 1997. He cracked Paul Craig’s skull in a jealous rage mistakenly thinking he had begun a relationship with his ex-girlfriend.

Both failed to return to the open prison after day release.

SWNS

Robert Donovan (left) and Derek Passmore (right)

Con-artist Tom Zolynski took just two months to make his bid for freedom, after disappearing FIVE years ago.

He had callously stolen £10,000 from a pensioner he was supposed to be caring for.

Fraudster Oluwasegun Adekunle also walked out of prison in 2007 aged 27. He was part of a gang who stole £2.4 million from clients of Halifax, HSBC and Barclays. He also tried to defraud BBC journalist Rageh Omar.

Temporary release can be an important part of rehabilitating offenders but not at the cost of public protection

Ministry of Justice

In total the Ministry of Justice said 39 people were still at large after escaping the prison near Arundel in West Sussex between April 2004 and March 2014.

Of those 15 failed to return after being granted temporary release, while 24 simply walked out.

But Sussex Police refused to reveal the total number of prisoners currently on the run from Ford, who left before or after the released data.

Ford was revealed to have the worst absconder rate of any British prison last year.

It houses 500 prisoners and since it opened in 1960 89 convicts have walked free and remain on the run.

The Ministry of Justice promised to return absconding prisoners back to closed units and said: "Prisoners who abscond, fail to return or commit crime while on release will be sent back to closed prisons.

"Temporary release can be an important part of rehabilitating offenders but not at the cost of public protection."